1. Chapter 5 - Television and the Power of Visual Culture While these slides were created using material from the above textbook, they are not official presentations from the publisher, Bedford/St. Martin’s. In addition, many slides may contain professor’s supplemental notes on various media topics.

2. “Television is the medium from which most of us receive our news, sports, entertainment, cues for civic discourse, and, most of all, our marching orders as consumers.”Frank Rich, New York Times

3. In This Chapter… Brief History of Television Decline of the Networks Economics of TV/Markets Public TV and Democracy

5. 1953-more than 50% had one

6. Early 1960’s-more than 90% of all homes had a television set

8. Brief History of Television Analog v. Digital Rabbit Ears v. Converter Box By June 2009 TVs’s must have a “converter box” to transcode the digital signal Means a clearer picture Means stations can now send out four or five signals, where before, they could only send out one—this is due to the compression of the signal from analog to digital

9. Decline of the Networks Network Era: the period from the late 1950s to the end of the 1970s when the networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) gained control over TV’s content During this period, the networks collectively accounted for more than 95% of all prime-time TV viewing. By 2005, this figure dropped to below 45%. P. 172 “For the first time in TV history, a half-hour comedy series did not rate among the season’s top ten programs.”

10. Decline of the Networks Decline of the Networks Three factors: Technological changes VCRs, DVRs, Time-shifting (taping shows and watching them later) Government regulation Prime Time Access Rule (6:30-7:00 Central) – must go to local stations Development of new networks Fox (Simpsons, Married with Children) UPN & WB = The CW (America’s Next Top Model, Dawson’s Creek, Felicity, Moesha)

11. Economics of TV/Markets Rating & Share = percentage sets the rates stations can charge advertisers for time Market = geographical areas across the country with numbers, based on population O & O = network-owned-and-operated stations Nielsen = the company who conducts the ratings for television Sweeps = November, February, May, July

12. There are 211 television markets nationwide. Source: Nielsen

13. Public TV and Democracy “While TV remains the main storytelling medium of our time, the news, comedy and drama are increasingly controlled by larger and larger companies, most of which own movie and recording studios and other media businesses.” Since the 1980s, the original Big Three networks have lost more than half their audience. And their main “new” idea is to recycle “reality” programs that lack the storytelling power of a well-crafted drama or smart comedy. What does this meant to you as a consumer?????

14. Public TV and Democracy “Since its creation, commercial television has tended to serve the interest of profit more than those of democracy. And networks have proved time and again that they are more interested in delivering audiences to advertisers than providing educational and provocative programming to citizens and viewers.” PBS- Public Television – is not beholden to advertisers – and doesn’t depend on ratings like the major networks do.